Eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are serious, difficult-to-treat psychiatric disorders. For elite athletes, in addition to impairment in health and everyday life, an eating disorder can lead to a decline in sports performance. Knowledge of the risk for eating disorders in sports is therefore important. Prevalence rates for disordered eating vary depending on the type of sport. A particularly high risk was found in elite athletes from aesthetic sports such as figure skating or dance. Prevalence rates are lower in ballgame sports, such as handball or basketball. The purpose of this study was to focus on sport-specific variables in different sport types and to examine their relation to disordered eating. One hundred and seventy-one aesthetic and ballgame sports athletes participated in this study (mean age 14.1 ± 1.8 years). At a follow-up survey one year later, 65 athletes from aesthetic sports participated again. The questionnaire package included disordered eating, general body dissatisfaction, social presEating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are serious, difficult-to-treat psychiatric disorders. For elite athletes, in addition to impairment in health and everyday life, an eating disorder can lead to a decline in sports performance. Knowledge of the risk for eating disorders in sports is therefore important. Prevalence rates for disordered eating vary depending on the type of sport. A particularly high risk was found in elite athletes from aesthetic sports such as figure skating or dance. Prevalence rates are lower in ballgame sports, such as handball or basketball. The purpose of this study was to focus on sport-specific variables in different sport types and to examine their relation to disordered eating. One hundred and seventy-one aesthetic and ballgame sports athletes participated in this study (mean age 14.1 ± 1.8 years). At a follow-up survey one year later, 65 athletes from aesthetic sports participated again. The questionnaire package included disordered eating, general body dissatisfaction, social pressure to be lean from sports environment, sports-related body dissatisfaction, desire to be leaner to improve sports performance and emotional distress resulting from missed exercise sessions. In predicting eating disorder symptoms in athletes from aesthetic sports, we observed that after controlling for sex, age, BMI, and body dissatisfaction, sports-related variables were able to account for an additional variance in disordered eating. The longitudinal analyses indicated that a desire to be leaner to improve sports performance is predictive of disordered eating in aesthetic sports. Sports-related variables were associated with disordered eating also in ballgame sports, but some risk factors, such as the desire to be leaner to improve sports performance, were less prevalent. In conclusion of these results, sports-related parameters are relevant for understanding eating disorder symptomatology in sports. Athletes seem to be more at risk if they perceive the possibility to enhance sports performance through weight-regulation, which is more prevalent in aesthetic sports.…